Highwall mining equipment retrieval and extraction apparatus

ABSTRACT

An extraction and retrieval apparatus for highwall mining equipment which includes a mining head engaged with and proceeded by a series of push beams The apparatus includes a retriever platform having wing braces for bracing the retriever platform against a mine highwall and a hydraulic assembly is mounted on the retriever platform and includes at least a spaced pair of stop blocks securable to the retriever platform at multiple different positions therealong. The hydraulic assembly further includes a pull beam slidable along the retriever platform and having a connection for connecting the pull beam to an outer most exposed push beam of the mining equipment. A spaced pair of hydraulic cylinders are disposed between the pair of stop blocks and the pull beam for pulling a connected mining push beam together with attached mining equipment from the mine shaft.

CROSS REFERENCE

This application claims the benefit under 35 U.S.C. §119 (e) of Provisional Application No. 62/387,832, filed Jan. 7, 2016, entitled HIGHWALL MINING EQUIPMENT RETRIEVAL AND EXTRACTION APPARATUS AND METHOD.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

The present invention pertains to an apparatus for retrieving mining equipment, particularly highwall mining equipment which has become trapped or otherwise lodged within a highwall mine.

Highwall mining is accomplished by mechanical mining equipment controlled from outside the mine and is especially used in the mining of coal. In highwall mining, various imaging and sensing systems detect and map a seam of coal located within a hill. A wall is prepared on the mountainside or hillside or on a wall of a prepared trench that is substantially vertical to the horizontal and located near a beginning point of the coal seam. A large mining head cuts into and penetrates the mountain and coal seam. A push beam transfer mechanism pushes the mining head into the coal seam. The push beam is hydraulically pushed and driven by a large platform based piece of equipment. The push beam is typically made of segments which are added one to another as the mining head penetrates and pushes deeper into the mountain. The push beams may slide along the floor of the mine or they may have wheels attached. Each segment of the push beam typically includes internal augers or other transfer means which carry the pieces of mined coal internally through the push beams and out of the mine. Typically the mining head is designed to move up and down within the coal seam to capture the entirety of the coal seam. Sensors positioned near the mining head help a miner operator determine that the mining head is within the coal seam and not within rock or other material. For instance, measures of specific power draw may indicate that the head is in rock, coal, or looser material. Cameras or other sensors may also be used.

It is not uncommon for mines to collapse while highwall mining equipment is positioned within the mine. The highwall mining equipment is expensive, costing millions of dollars, and therefore it is desirable to be able to extract the highwall mining equipment from collapsed mines. Examples of existing highwall miner retrieval systems may be observed in U.S. Pat. No. 8,857,916 and US Patent Application Publication No. 2008/0142767. These prior art systems require the use of long retrieval cables that have to be secured to the mining head prior to the initial mining operation, and the long cables must be stored on large reels on the exterior mining platform.

There is a need in the art for mining equipment extraction method and apparatus which is more effective, reliable and easier to transport and operate and less expensive to manufacture.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Other objects and advantages appear hereinafter in the following description and claims. The accompanying drawings show, for the purpose of exemplification, without limiting the scope of the invention or appended claims, certain practical embodiments of the present invention wherein:

FIG. 1 is a schematic isometric view of the highwall miner retrieval system of the present invention illustrated in position for operation at a highwall mine face;

FIG. 2 is an exploded schematic view of the highwall miner retrieval system shown in FIG. 1 illustrating the modular characteristics of the system which permits easy transportation to the work site and fast and easy erection at the work site of the modular system;

FIG. 3 is a schematic view in side elevation of the highwall miner retrieval system of FIG. 1 providing a force diagram illustrating the counter weighted design of the system which overcomes the need for anchoring the system in ground for use;

FIG. 4 is a schematic view in side elevation of the highwall miner retrieval system of FIG. 1 with the protective overhead canopy removed;

FIG. 5 is a schematic plan view illustrating the hydraulic assembly and retriever platform portions of the highwall miner retrieval system shown in FIG. 1 with the overhead canopy removed;

FIG. 6 is a schematic isometric view illustrating the hydraulic assembly of the highwall miner retrieval system of FIG. 1 coupled to an outermost exposed push beam segment of the highwall mining equipment being retrieved from a highwall mine with all other elements of the system removed in order to expose the hydraulic assembly more clearly. The hydraulic assembly is illustrated with the hydraulic cylinders shown in a retracted condition;

FIG. 7 is an isometric schematic view of the hydraulic assembly illustrated in FIG. 6 with the hydraulic cylinders illustrated in an extended position.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The extraction and retrieval apparatus of the present invention is provided for highwall mining equipment which includes a mining head engaged with and proceeded by a series of push beams. A retriever platform is positioned outside of the mine at the highwall and includes wing braces for bracing the retriever platform against the mine highwall. A hydraulic assembly is mounted on the retriever platform and includes at least one stop block securable to the retriever platform at multiple different positions therealong.

The hydraulic assembly includes a pull beam slidable along the retriever platform. The pull beam is provided with a connection for connecting the pull beam to an outer most exposed push beam of the mining equipment. At least one hydraulic cylinder is disposed between the at least one stop block and the pull beam for pulling a connected push beam together with attached mining equipment from the mine shaft.

The at least one stop block is adjustably engaged with the retriever platform by a series of launch point recesses in and along the retriever platform for selectively receiving stop block projections protruding from the at least one stop block at the different positions along the retriever platform.

In a preferable arrangement, the hydraulic platform includes a spaced pair of the stop blocks and a spaced pair of the hydraulic cylinders respectively connected to the stop blocks.

The many different parts of the extraction and retrieval apparatus are separable to provide a modular assembly wherein the retriever platform, wing braces, pull beam, stop blocks and hydraulic cylinders are all separable from each other. This provides ease of shipping and transfer for the extraction and retrieval apparatus from work site to the next.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Referring to the drawings, the highwall mining equipment retrieval and extraction apparatus 10 of the present invention is modular as is best illustrated in FIG. 2 which permits easy and convenient transportation of the system to the mine site and also permits fast and easy erection at the mine site and fast and easy disassembly after retrieving the highwall miner from the collapsed mine. The major components of the system 10 are the retriever platform 11, hydraulic assembly 12, support wing braces 13 and the protective canopy 14.

The hydraulic assembly 12 rides on the retriever platform 11 of the retrieval frame 15. Hydraulic assembly 12 includes on opposite sides hydraulic cylinders 16 which are mounted respectively between pull beam 17 of assembly 12 and stop blocks 18 on opposite sides of frame 15. The stop blocks 18 have downwardly depending stop block projections 20 for respectively being respectively received in and engaging a series of launch point recesses 21 provided on opposite sides of retriever platform 11. When the stop block projections 20 of assembly 12 are received in respective launch point recesses 21 of retriever platform 11, cylinders 16 can push pull beam 17 of assembly 12 forward to thereby push outermost exposed push beam 23 of a highwall miner assembly trapped within a collapsed mine forward for retrieval from the mine as the coupling plates 24 of pull beam 17 are coupled to the push beam 23 with coupling pins 25.

Once the hydraulic assembly 12 is placed into position with the stop blocks 18 having their downwardly depending stop block projections 20 received in respective launch point recesses 21 on opposite sides of the retriever platform 11 as illustrated in FIG. 5 and the outermost exposed push beam 23 of the trapped mining equipment is coupled to the hydraulic assembly 12 such as illustrated in FIGS. 5, 6 and 7, the hydraulic cylinders 16 may be independently or simultaneously actuated to push push beam 23 out of the mine face along with other connected parts of the trapped mining equipment contained within the collapsed mine.

Once the cylinders 16 have been fully distended as shown in FIG. 7 so that the push beam 23 has been retracted from the mine to this point of advancement, the hydraulic assembly 12 is then advanced to the next set of launch point recesses on the retriever platform 11. This advancement of the hydraulic system assembly 12 is accomplished by the retraction of cylinders 16 (FIG. 6). This will cause the stop block projections 20 of stop blocks 18 to ride out of their respective launch point recesses 21 and to advance forward to a new set of launch point recesses 21 at a forward position on platform 11 where the stop block projections 20 will respectively drop into the recesses of the forward positioned launch point recesses 21. At this point the retrieval cycle may be repeated to move the push beam 23 forward out of the mine an additional predetermined distance. Thus the cylinders 16 advance the assembly 12 into the next succeeding launch point recesses 21 in sequence until the push beam 23 has been recovered.

At this point of recovery, the hydraulic assembly 12 is moved back to the first or initial launch point recesses 21 closer to the mine highwall on platform 11 by a pair of chain hoists (not shown) that ride on and along monorail beams 28 of protective canopy 14. Protective canopy 14 is primarily provided to protect the operators from rock and other debris falling from the highwall face 30 of the mine 31 but also provides stability to platform 11 when hydraulic assembly 12 is under operation.

The system 10 is provided with wing braces 13 in order to brace the system 10 against the mine highwall face 30. As is illustrated in FIG. 3, the entire system 10 has a counter weighted design which overcomes need for anchoring the system 10 to the underlying ground. This counter weighted design is made possible by the fact that the system extracts the push beams with a direct push outward as opposed to competing systems which require the use of unreliable cables to extract the trapped miner, such prior art cable extraction equipment requiring the winding of cable onto reels which places unbalanced torque forces on to the retrieval assembly.

With the system 10 of the present invention no re-coupling to the next push beam is required until the outermost exposed push beam being retrieved is completely removed. The evenly spaced launch point recesses 21 is the key to the pushing power of the hydraulic assembly 12 and the hydraulic assembly 12 is repositioned by an integrated monorail system with hoists as previously explained.

The entire system 10 may be remotely operated by use of a multiple camera system (cameras 34) and the hydraulic cylinders 16 may be independently operated and positioned by indicator marks 33 on the frame 15 and the hydraulic cylinder assembly 12.

Unlike the systems of the prior art, no unreliable cables or chains are utilized. In addition, the system of the present invention is a stand-alone system wherein no external equipment is required for assembly or operation, such as the required additional use of a highwall miner, a loader, excavator or bulldozer. Also, unlike the systems of the prior art, the system of the present invention is designed to push the equipment being received rather than pulling it and the system is modular for rapid transportation and deployment. 

I claim:
 1. An extraction and retrieval apparatus for highwall mining equipment which includes a mining head engaged with and proceeded by a series of push beams, the apparatus comprising: a retriever platform including wing braces for bracing said retriever platform against a mine highwall; a hydraulic assembly mounted on said retriever platform and including at least one stop block securable to said retriever platform at multiple different positions therealong; said hydraulic assembly including a pull beam slidable along said retriever platform and having a connection for connecting said pull beam to an outermost exposed push beam of said mining equipment, and at least one hydraulic cylinder disposed between said at least one stop block and said pull beam for pulling a connected push beam together with attached mining equipment from a mine shaft.
 2. The extraction and retrieval apparatus of claim 1, wherein said at least one stop block is adjustably engaged with said retriever platform by a series of launch point recesses in and along said retriever platform for selectively receiving stop block projections protruding from said at least one stop block at said different positions along said retriever platform.
 3. The extraction and retrieval apparatus of claim 1, said hydraulic platform including a spaced pair of said stop blocks and a spaced pair of said hydraulic cylinders respectively connected to said stop blocks.
 4. The extraction and retrieval apparatus of claim 1, wherein said retriever platform, wing braces, pull beam, at least one stop block and at least one hydraulic cylinder are all separable from each other for ease of shipping and transfer. 